PARTONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN

Hurt not the Trees

Tormented Five Months

“And therecame out of the smoke locusts upon the earth:and unto them was given power, as thescorpions of the earth have power.”(Rev. 9:3)

Indeed, John did see locusts coming out of thesmoke;however, they are being used as a picture, yes,a very fitting picture! And now it is important that we understand this picture properly. John sees the locustscome forth out of the smoke that escaped from the abyss. They did not themselves actually come out of theabyss; they originate with, or are produced by, the smoke! Nothing is said to come out of the abyss but thesmoke which darkens the sun and the air; and out of thesmokethe locusts come. It may be natural to thinkthat, after all, they cannot be bred of thesmokeand that they must come with the smoke out of the pit; butnaturalistic interpretations may easily deceive us, where the spiritual sense is the whole matter, and for thespiritual meaning there is deep significance. The smoke is not, as in other places, the smoke of tormentingfire, but fumes of malign spiritual influences which obscure the enlightenment of the Spirit and our ownspiritual understanding. Out of this spiritual darkness, caused by the deceitfulness of the human heart, wecan easily understand the locusts to be bred!

The locusts therefore are intimately associated with the smoke. Smoke is more of an ethereal, airy,vaporous, gaseous substance, whereas the locusts have a tangible form.The locusts represent the outwardform of the spiritual concept. Arising from the abyss of the deceitfulness of the heart is the smoke of ego,thoughts, imaginations, desires, ambitions, perceptions, attitudes, interpretations, ideas, concepts, opinions,propositions, and divinations. None of these things are tangible, visible, physical things! Yet out of thesecome other things! The visible, tangible, physical things (locusts) which come out of the smoke representthe men, ministries, movements, organizations, governments, and activities that are spawned by the thoughts,perceptions, ideas, interpretations, and opinions that come from the heart! All the unfetteredinstincts of thesoul have their root and source in the depths of the abyss. And all the outward embodiments andmanifestations of these inward soulical instincts have their root and source in the smoke!

The locusts, then, are theenergy-chargedauthority, words, and actions of men and systems whichcarry a very real power capable of wrecking much havoc in the lives of God’s people. That these locustsbecome the personification of the deceitful intents of the heart is confirmed by the words of the prophetwhere, in reference to the might and power of Nineveh, he states that“Thycrowned onesare as thelocusts.”(Nahum 3:17) That which is crowned, of course, is a KING—a ruling one—that which sits on the throneand has authority and power over men!A friend has pointed out that this is, also, the thought which iscarried by the Greek worddaimontranslated “devil” in the scriptures but from which we derive our Englishword “demon.” This worddaimonmeans, literally, a DEIFIED SPIRIT! It is, then,a GOD that rules overman—a god-like spirit made so because it sits as a king or a “crowned one” in a man’s life. This is naughtbut thereligious spirit that rules over the Lord’s people through the instrumentality of the movements,organizations, andchurch systems of man! Oh! What authority and power they exercise over men's lives!The priests and ministers of religion, and the systems they represent, are asGodto the masses of Christianswho blindly accept their words as the very words of God! Can you not see the mystery?

Out from the smoke of the deceitfulness of the heart comes every form of man-made church system,personality cult, kingdom building, organization, creeds and laws, manipulation and control. That whichcomes out of the smoke of the serpent’s deceit only bites, stings, and torments!“And unto them was givenpower, as the scorpions of the earth have power...and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, whenhe striketh aman.”(Rev. 9:3-5) The diabolical heresies of man’s religion appeal to man’s intelligence andare subtle; but when they have clouded the sun of truth and life they are seen to be cruel and relentless,enslaving and exploiting, resulting in anguish and torment. The smoke includes the laws, rules, creeds andcommandments of religion and the traditions of men. The locusts represent the actions and practices that thecontrolling, dominating, and legalistic spirit inflicts upon our lives. These are not pure, satisfying,comforting, assuring, edifying, revealingthe heart of God and the mind of Christ; rather, they sting us withguilt, fear, condemnation, exploitation and bondage. They bite and eat away at us even as we endeavor toserve the Lord!

These come out of the darkened mind and ignorance of man, outof the false ideas about God and Hisword,locustsupon the earth! The “earth” signifies the carnal religious realm, and that which is soulical.“Upon the earth” carries the meaning of “to light on top of” as a bug that flies and lands on top of a stalkofcorn or wheat. Spiritually, the locust indicates that which forms out of the imagination of carnal minds andlights or lands upon those who are growing in the field or vineyardof the Lord. These are the Lord’s peoplewho are meant to grow up unto themeasure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. When a farmer seeslocusts he knows he has a problem. Locusts devour and destroy! They ravage the harvest! These locusts aregiven the same authority as the scorpions of earth. One thing the called and chosen elect of the Lord havelearned in this great kingdom day is that God has given uspowertotread on serpents and scorpions!Aren’tyou glad!

Because of thedesolations poured out upon God’s people the Lord gave a word of assurance withpromisesof deliverance through the prophet Joel. He prophesied,“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: forthe Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness dospring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, yechildrenof Zion,and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He willcause to come down for you the rain, theformer rain,and thelatter rainin the first month. And the floorsshall be full ofwheat,and the fats shall overflow withwineandoil.And I willrestore to you the years thatthe locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm,my great army which Isent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, andnone else: andmy people shall never be ashamed.”(Joel 2:21-26)

The plague that had come upon Israel was without parallel in their history. It consisted of successivedevastations by locusts, of which naturalists say there were as many as ninety varieties in the Middle East. Inthe passage above four different words are used.They arearbeh, gazam, yeleq,andhasil,translatedrespectively aslocust,palmerworm, cankerworm,andcaterpillar.The reality is that these are not fourdifferent insects, they are four stages of the same insect! The Amplified Bible reads,“And I will restore orreplace for you the years that thelocusthath eaten—thehopping locust,thestripping locust,and thecrawling locust...”All these words are different names of the locust, referring to different stages of itsdevelopment. And the same swarm of locusts, according to the advancing stages of its growth, had done itsdesolating work in every stage! Four is the number of universality—the ruinous activity of the locusts wasfull and complete. Nothing had escaped! The whole land had been laid waste.

While this prophecy appears very literal to Israel of old, yet we know that in the New Testament thepromisedformer rainandlatter rainare revealed to be the outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon God’sspiritual elect. Thus, the prophecy pertains to SPIRITUAL REALITIES! The “land” is not the old land ofPalestine overin the Middle East! The covenant of the old land of Canaan isour exampleto prepare us toenter the new and greater “land” of the kingdom of God on earth. The substance of that land is Christ!These words of Paul Mueller are so very significant for usall at this present time. “The Psalmist said,“Therighteous shallinherit the land,and dwell therein forever.‟(Ps. 37:29)Not only shall the saints inherit theearth, but they shall inherit the land. This land is a special place reserved for the elect. It is the place thatcorresponds in type to Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, the place of David’s throne. It is the glorious realm of spiritualZion, the “land‟ that corresponds to the Holiest of all in the tabernacle or house of the Lord. That place, orland, is a land of the incorruptible and immortal glory of the presence of the Lord. From that “land‟ thesaints shall rule and reign with Christ in incorruptible bodies, with incorruptible minds, the mind of Christ.

“O that the wonderful spirit of revelation would enlighten us to the grandeur of these promises ofGod! The wisdom and understanding of the Spirit is being given to us. We are growing up to know thehope of our calling, and to see the glories that are reserved for us in the realm of the Spirit. Only as we areenlightened bythe spirit of revelation can we possibly comprehend the marvelous truth ofour inheritance inChrist.When we fully understand that Christ is our inheritance, the things of earth will indeed grow dim.The world and all things of it will lose its attraction, and we will run with patience the race that is set beforeus. Our glorious, risen Christ has already set down the footprints, the steps, into the glory that is reserved forus. He has pre-destined our walk unto His fullness. He has set aside an inheritance for us thatmake thethings of this world look like the paltry dust and ashes that they are. Compared to the splendor of theincorruptible and immortal Christ of glory, all else is corruption. He has reserved Himself for us! He has setaside the Holiest of all, the place of His greater presence, for the holy remnant who are now growing up intoHim. What an inheritance! The steps to that glory are there. Walk in the Spirit and the way will be madeclear”—end quote.

Many saints have no desire to attain experientially to the fullness of Christ Himself. They have novision ofsonship!They are more interested in a mansion over the hilltop, or a cabin in the corner of glory-land, or some such foolishness.They want to live next door to Jesus, but they have no yearning to be likeHim, to overcome as He overcame, to be filled with the glory of the Father as Jesus was, and to reign withHim on His throne. Their vision has nothing to do with restoring all creation into the glory ofGod;they willbe satisfied with a harp and a robe! But the land of our inheritance is peace, joy, righteousness, incorruptiblelife, divine wisdom, infinite knowledge, omnipotent power, universal dominion, and eternal glory! All thisis ours as sons of God, but only as wegrow up into Christandput on Christdo we become mature andarrive in the position to assume this responsibility of possessing our possessions. We are talking about thefull statureof Christ within ourselves,not gold bath tubs in heaven. By a mature understanding and a divinefaith we see the way to enter the land and take possession of all the riches and glory of full sonship to God!

The army in Joel chapter two is an army of locusts that devastates the land of God. It represents theadversaries to true spirit life that come into the vineyard or garden of the Lord and lay it waste. They stripthe leaves from the vines and cause the fruit to rot. There is a progression in the growth and destructivenessofthe locusts that are in the vineyard of God. The most destructive of all is the full-grown consuming locust,more destructive than licking or gnawing. These locusts have gone from crawling to hopping to swarming toconsuming! As we look at all the different levels of experience, doctrine, ministry, church life, and controlin the church world it is obvious that not every realm is equally destructive to spiritual life! A few nurturethat life to a high degree. Yet all the carnal, man-made systems, creeds, organizations, programs, andpromotions expresslocust mentalitiesandlocust ministrationsthat rob God’s people of their true destiny,vision, purpose, understanding, faith, wisdom, and power. These movements of man, like the locusts,usually beginsmall and unpretentious, but soon gather strength and become hopping locusts, and before youknow it they are airborne and are everywhere in their full-blown destructiveness. The church today isliterally filled and totally covered with these devouring locusts!

Ah, how often the voice of the locust speaks the very same things within us! The locust voice says,“Don’t talk about beingperfect—no one can be perfect in this world! Don’t talk about thenature of God—that is too high for you! Don’t talk aboutconquering death—everybody dies, and all who have preachedthat have likewise died! You will go by wayof the grave at last! Don’t talk about becomingexactly likeChrist—nobody can measure up to Him, and you are taking too much upon you, taking away from Hisglory! Don’t talk about beingmanifest sons of God—it is enough to join a good church, support thepreacher, give to missions, be a faithful Christian, and make heaven your home! Besides, you are weak, youare now old and feeble; youcan’t preach or teach the Word; you are beset by physical ailments and disease,silly of you to think of overcoming sin and death; you have already failed so many times to please yourheavenly Father; God never answers your prayers anyhow; you have no church or fellowship, no one toencourage and strengthen you, no covering over you; you have too many problems and hang-ups, and youaspire to deliver creation from the bondage of corruption! You are young and inexperienced, others havewalked in this truth for years; your own home is out of order, you are bedeviled by an opposing spouse andrebellious children;and you’re wanting to be amanifest son of God!It is far beyond your ability, you cannever make it! Don’t talk about putting on themind of Christ—you’ll never get rid of your old carnal minduntil you die! Don’t talk aboutruling and reigningwith Christ—it might go to your head! Who do youthink you are, anyway! Don’t talk about beingkings and priestsafter the Order of Melchizedek—that’s justfor Jesus! It is absolutely impossible for you to attain and possess such high and holy things! It’s just an egotrip!” Oh, yes! The locusts have so devastated the fields and vineyards of the Lord until there is little maturefruit of Christ anywhere!

All through the body of Christ today I see the destroying army of negative attitudes, static creeds,false images of God, exploitation of the people, childish interpretation of scripture, human control andmanipulation, unbelief, spiritual stagnation, stunted growth, Babylonian bondage, entertaining the saintsrather than perfecting the saints, carnal programs and promotions, which one and all rob the Lord’s people ofthe glorious and eternal reality of the fullness of Christ, bringing them to powerlessness and reproach in themidst of the earth. Can any doubt that the church is full of locusts! AsLynn Hiles once said,every time Isee these man-made programs, carnal concepts, and fleshly methods pawned off as “ministry” I want to getin that vineyard andkill some bugs!

I tell you today, God is cleansing our land of these locusts! The wordof the Lord is coming to God’s called and chosen elect in this day as it came in that long ago to the spirit ofthe prophet Joel, proclaiming,“I will REST MORE unto you the years that the LOCUST hath eaten!”To allwho walk in the spirit of truth in this hour, under the mighty hand of God, the Lord is RESTORINGWITHIN US all that the locusts have devoured! Praise His wonderful name!

HURT NOT THE TREES...

“And it was commanded them that they should nothurt the grass of the earth, neither any greenthing, neither any tree; butonly those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”(Rev. 9:4)

“Power,” that is, authority, or the ability to act effectively, was “given” to the locusts, as thescorpions of the earth have power. They could carry out their mission only with God’s approval! We mustunderstand that in spite of all the carnality of religion, God is still moving in people’s lives and ministries inthose realms! So the Lord established their perimeters. The locusts have a limitation on what they can do, alimitation set by God.“Hurt not the grass, the green things, nor any tree.” In other words, you are given asphere of influence among the people, but don’t hurt the living things, the little life they have inmanifestation, the good things they do in a sincere effort to serve God. The grass speaks of those who areyoung in the Lord, but live close to the earth, out of the carnal mind. They have not ascended withinthemselves into the heavens of God’s Spirit. Grass is also a covering, an aesthetic, which covers the earth,conceals what lies beneath, veiling the true nature of the flesh. They grow very close to the earth, yet doexpress some life on that level of immaturity in Christ. The “green thing” is something a little higher,something that would give life like a green vegetable or herb, but still has its roots in the earth, in a carnalrealm. These are the works of those whohave an anointing of life and the bread of truth from God, they aretruly life-givers, but in spite of their anointing and ministry of life they are still bound in the carnal systemsof man and think with a Babylonish mind. The world is full of these! Christian television is full of these!Trees are strong things that grow out of an earthly realm, yet have life and express life. These grow higheryet, but still their roots go deep into the earth-realm rather than into the waters of the river of God, wheregrows the tree of life!

The locusts are commanded not to “hurt” these three levels of experience, life, and works. “Onlythosemen...”It is not the realms of experience, life, and works that God is out to destroy, nor is it even thetruth of God as expressed on these various levels that God is after, but thementhemselves. God is dealingwith something beyond the measure of life men possess and the level on which they express that life—Hisconcern is with themind—their understanding, perception, and way of thinking! How can we know it istheir mind God is dealing with? Simply because the locusts hurt only thosemenwhohave not the seal ofGod in their FOREHEADS!They can touch only those who have not the “Seal of God.” Therefore, forthosewho have the seal of God the locusts cannot bring pain in the “region of their thought...theirforehead.” It is only the seal of God in our thinking that can stop them! They cannot go against the “mind ofChrist.” And when we come to the grass, the greenthings, and the trees, it is not their immaturity, not theirimperfect works that are affected—it is the fountainhead, the mainspring of their condition—amindunconquered and unreplaced by themind of Christ!These have not been lifted up into the mind of Christ,nor do they know by the Spirit their true identity as sons of God. And lest we should think that these are justthose carnal Christians out there in the religious systems of the world, let me tell you something. The locustswill sting any area in God’s elect where we are not walking in the mind of Christ! Any man who lacksanything of the mind of Christ is subject to the sting of the locust! In thewords of the old song,“It’s not my brother, nor my sister, but it’s ME, Oh Lord!”

TORMENTED FIVE MONTHS

“And to them it was given that they shouldnot kill them,but that they should betormented fivemonths:and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.”(Rev. 9:5)

Have you yet seen by revelation of the Spiritof God that you will have torment in your soul—inyour mind, in your emotions—until the seal of the living God is placed in your forehead, until you begin tothink out of the mind of Christ and live out of the spirit-man which you truly are. The locusts out of thesmoke of the pit will torment youuntilyou identify with Christ whois your lifeand youronly reality.If bythe grace of God this holy vision can burst upon you, you will stand upon the heights of the mount of God intriumph and victory!Nothing can destroy your true identity or the eternal life you have in Christ! Some whoread these lines have passed through some very hard places, trials, temptations, and testings which pressedyou beyondmeasureand you despaired of life itself. Beof good cheer, for the locusts are undercommandment from God—they cannotkill you!

We have all experienced those seasons of weakness, failure, discouragement, doubts, oppression, andhopelessness. But in it all the gift of God in our vessel was left untouched, unscathed, and unharmed! Thedeposit of God was left alone. The life of God in you, the real you, is born of anincorruptible seed.It isboth incorruptible and indestructible! That which is born of the fleshis flesh,and always acts likeflesh.That which is born of the Spiritis spirit,and always acts like spirit. That is the mystery! Your heavenlyFather has so constructed your spiritual life that it is always protected in your earthen vessel and even thelocusts in the likeness ofhorses prepared for battle, with crowns on their heads, their faces as the faces ofmen, their teeth like the teeth of lions, their wings as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle,and with tails with stings like unto scorpions—even thesecannot touch the new creation of God which youtruly are! Even God will not and cannot destroy that which is of Him within you, nor will He, nor can Hetorment it! You are His beloved son, precious in His eyes. He has set His eternal, unconditional love uponyou!“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons ofGod!”When we fail to identify with who we really are we can betormented,and we all have been there! Itseems to me that there is no greater torment than thespirit of condemnation!Yet, thank God, even thattorment has a time limit!

In the Greek, the words used here for “torment” and “tormented” arebasanizoandbasanismowhichare both derived from the wordbasanos. Basanosis what is commonly known in English as the“touchstone.” Its proper usage in olden times was to try the genuineness of gold. The pure gold rubbed onthe stone would leave a peculiar mark, different to that of other metals or alloys. Therefore it acquired asymbolic significance:a test or criterion for determining the quality or the genuineness of a thing; to test forpurity or truth.Therefore, you see, when we are “tormented” by the locusts, we are having our genuinenessand quality tested—for if we are beingtormented by the locusts it should clearly reveal to us that we areNOT WALKING IN THE TRUTH, NOR IN THE MIND OF CHRIST, NOR IN OUR TRUE IDENTITYAS SONS OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER! That is the test, and the truth of what mind, word, and identitywe are walking in is made manifest by the “sting” of the locusts! They cannot sting one who has the seal ofGod in his forehead!

Their province is to torment those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads, or who are notconsciously abiding in the mind of Christ and the truth as it is in Jesus. Is it not true that the false doctrinesof the church systems of man are a torment to those over whom they have obtained the mastery? The stingof the locusts often involves the emotions of fear, dread, and terror.Terror is the emotion people feel whenfacing the unknown or when threatened. It is the emotion we come face to face with when we hear thedoctor announce, “You have cancer,” or the stock market falls a couple thousand points just when we areready to retire. There is alsospiritual terrorinflicted by what one brother callsterrorist preachers.When Iwas a boy, the churches in which I was raised painted such a picture of God as One who is so exacting,demanding, judgmental, and vindictive, that if youwent to bed at night with one little unconfessed sin inyour life, not under the blood of Jesus, and should the “rapture” take place during the night, you would beleft behind! The preachers filled a lot of altars with weeping, wailing, hysterical peoplewith that kind ofterrorism!

I tell you that in those days I could not truly love God forbeing afraid of Him!The coming of theLord sent no thrill of glory through my soul; the very thought of His coming struck terror in my heart! Godwas so high and holy, so awesome and exacting, so stern and demanding that I was sure I could never bequite ready to stand before His fearsome presence. That sting of the scorpion-tailed locust revealed that Iwas not SEALED WITH THE SEAL OF GOD IN MY FOREHEAD! I did not yet know what it meant toWALK IN THE MIND OF CHRIST!How my ransomed soul exults with joy unspeakable and full of glorythat God has driven that false religious locust-spirit out of my land so that I may now KNOW HIM AS HEREALLY IS! Thank God, the allottedfive months of tormentcame to an end and I no longer feel the sting ofthe scorpion tail! Do you think we should be afraid of someone as gracious and merciful as ourheavenlyFather?Should we cringe before Him like a dog that expects a kick?What has God done to us that weshould be afraid of Him? Godso lovedthe world that He gave His Son for us! And, behold, whatmanner oflovethe Father hath bestowed uponus,that we should be called thesons of God!Same love, for GodisLove!

It is a fact that most fear has its root in theunknown.People fear what they cannot see, or what theydo not understand,or what they imagine to be. It’s no wonder, then, that since religion deals with an unseenworld—with spirit beings, the hereafter, eternity, future punishments and rewards, heaven and hell—thatpeople’sfearsplay a very important role in most of the world’sreligions.You must admit that fears of pain,suffering, or death; fears of coming judgment, tribulation, or wrath; fears of spiritual punishment andunknown, unnamed torments in hell; all of these fears virtuallydominatemost of the religions on earth—those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads!

Those who are God’s called and chosen elect in this great day of the Lord are now being deliveredfrom all fear and terror, for they understand by the deep inner revelation of the spirit, and the teaching of themind of Christ, that all things are in ourFather’s hands and all that happens in our lives is partof His wisepurpose for our growth and development in Him.He is in control,no matter how dark or hopeless thingsseem,and He will bring us forth triumphantly as we commit our way to the Lord and trust also in Him. Nowtogether we can raise our voicesin blessed chorus with the Psalmist and joyfully sing,“I will bless the Lordatall times:His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, anddeliveredme from all my fears!”(Ps. 34:1, 4) The writer to the Hebrews adds,“He hath said, I will never leave thee,nor forsake thee. So we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, andI will not fear what man shall do untome.”(Heb. 13:5-6)

Even in the“valley of the shadow of death” He has promised to be with us, and even there we shall“fear no evil.”(Ps. 23:4) Those in whom the spirit of sonship is revealed fear no evil! We do not fear thewrath of men! We do not fear sickness or tragedy! We do not fear death! We do not fear judgment! We donot fear hell! We do notfear the antichrist! We do not fear world government! We do not fear greattribulation! We do not fear the beast! We have no fear of the “end times”! We have no fear of economiccollapse! We have no fear of terrorists! We have no fear of conspiracies! We have no fear of earthquakes!We have no fear of tsunamis! We have sought the Lord, He has heard us, and hasDELIVERED US FROMA-L-L OUR FEARSby the revelation of His mighty power working in us! He has delivered us from all the“stings” of all the scorpion-tailed locusts! By this you can know that you are sealed with the seal of God,that you are ason indeed!

No one has written more eloquently of the sting of the locusts thanBob Torango when he penned thefollowing exhortation.“Why, you may ask, doesn’t the world follow after the message of the church? Theanswer is that the message is one of a God who is a dictator instead of a God that is a Father. The messageof the church is tainted with words of judgment promising harsh punishment for sins, delivered without avoice of love. This nullifies the true reason for God’s judgment, which is to bring to us correction and joyunspeakable and full of glory. It is the same scenario that is played out every day in an abusive home wherethe parents lash out at their children in a fit of rage, striking them with physical blows meant to bring theminto submission, but accomplishing the direct opposite. There can be no substitute for love! A hug willaccomplish more correction than a blow to a child’s body.

“I am not suggesting that a child should never be reprimanded, for I realize that any child willcontinue to mis-behave if given a free rein, but I do believe that the parent is responsible for punishment thatexceeds the transgression. This happens more times than we want to think about. The parent has a bad dayat work, the car breaks down, the air conditioner goes out, and the frustration over these matters is unleashedupon thechildren which, by the way, can’t do anything right in theeyes of the enraged judge of the house.The result is a beating that is more therapeutic for the parent in venting their frustrations than it is forcorrection of the child’s behavior. Judgment of any kind should never be administered in a spirit of rageorloss of sensibility. The result is much worse than if there were no punishment at all.

“The church, enraged over the continued rejection of their version of the gospel story, becomes moreand more abusive toward anyone that does not see things theirway. Instead of being the magnet of God’slove to creation, the church has become a judge of God’s wrath that cannot be approached by anyone exceptthose who have lost all hope of love in their life and commit to the stranglehold of religion just to belong to agroup that will give them a sense of security. This, dear ones, is the standard profile of a child that is abused!Some of us that have never been found in an abusive relationship have doubts whether or not the relationshipis truly abusive. Whydon’t the abused children tell someone about their beatings if they are truly abused?Why don’t they run away from home? The saddest truth of all in an abusive situation is that the abusedindividual, especially a child, is convinced that they deserve this treatment! Added to this is thereinforcement that is given to this submissive behavior by our societal mores that continuously drill into ourchildren that their parents are the judges of their life and have the moral and legal authority to administerpunishments whenever they see fit. The child is reinforced to never question the judgment of the parents byteachers, which are surrogate judges at school, and by their playmates who are in ordinary relationships withtheir parents. The abused child iscut off, quite literally, from any hope of escape or explaining the situationto others. The result is a child that grows up to be either withdrawn or extremely low in confidence and self-esteem, or else one that acts out upon society the same acts of senseless violence that were acted out uponthem.

“The world mirrors this same stereotypical relationship with the church! They are either scared todeath of the church or they are violently opposed to it. What a tragedy to see the church in this shape!Whereas the church has been ordained to be the mother of the world‟s lost children, opening her arms withgrace and love to all that are in need, she has instead been portrayed as an abusive judge in the earth, spittingout statements of eternal damnationand unthinkable horrors on all that do not follow her commands.Nowonder the Lord is preparing another church!The church that is known as “mainstream‟ is a fake, dearones! She is a wicked stepmother that has no bond of love with the world at all. This wicked church lovesthe world in wordonlyand that only because the Bible says she must! The lost children of the world areonly her lawful responsibility and, by God, if they don’t shape up she is threatening to throw them all intoeternal hell fire. Raise up your Jerusalem, O Lord! Raise up the true Mother of us all, bring her to us and lether lay her cool, soft hand upon the wounds that have been given by the abusive, counterfeit church ofreligious dictators. Let her sweet kisses fall upon ourhead and let them take away the fear and anguish thathas been inflicted upon the world’s lostchildren. Oh, dear friends, can’t you just envision the power, thedunamis and exousia, that will be unleashed when the true, nurturing nature of the New Jerusalem, thebeautiful Bride of Christ, the loving, compassionate, Mother of us all wraps her arms around us and holds usuntil the crying stops, and cleans the dirt from us as she takes the filthy rags off of us that religion put uponus, and she covers us in clean, silky linen made up of the righteousness of our Father.

“Even now, as we speak out against the tyranny of an out of control religious mother of Babylon, wesee the damage that has been done and the scars that remain in the hearts of the peopleof God. Some stillflinch and pull away when the hand of Christ is stretched out to them. For some, the message of a lovingGod who asks nothing of us but to believe in His love and come to live with Him in peace andgraceis toogood to be true. For them, the abused offspring of a wicked guardian, beaten without reason, locked up incult-like communities of religious bondage, forbidden to question the teachings and rules of their overseers,psychologically brainwashed into testifying to the goodness ortheir tormentors in order to stay in goodgraces and not be publicly humiliated, for them the message of unconditional love is foreign and suspicious.In their world of abuse, everyone has an angle, an ulterior motive, a con. Nothing is truly free in theirrelationship with the wicked mother! Yes, they have programs for the adults, a big gymnasium for thechildren, a beautiful building to gather in, but only if they continue to give their money to the wicked mother.In fact, they have come to the awfultruth that mother only loves them if they support her with their money.Take the money away and mother becomes a tyrant accusing them of neglect and warning them of theconsequences that come to them that dare to leave off from supporting the prison house. The wicked motherespecially enjoys telling her forced child laborers about the tales of what will happen if they think they couldever leave her domain. She goes into great sickening detail in describing the terror that awaits them outsidethe wallsof her prison.

“Instead of the true gospel story of our heavenly Father and His grace and love, and His eternalcommitment to our redemption, we are told of God’s eternal wrath against us for something we don’t evenremember doing against Him. The fakechurch, the abusive mother, tells her young children that they arehopelessly evil and that all of their lives they will have to serve her in order to earn their way to heaven. The abused are told thatGod can’t even look on them, that He never heard their prayers before they came to livewith the wickedmother that God turned away from them in their sorrow. These are the bed time stories thatthe mainstream church puts her children to rest by. Whereas, the opposite is true! God always hearsgroaning creation and not one word intended for His ears goes by the wayside. Indeed, God has moved forus even when we were sinners and countless times saved us from destruction, with or without our askingHim. He has moved heaven and earth to keep us in this world and is constantly working on our behalf”—end quote.

The underlying foundation and core of religious Babylon’s theology is designed to activate fear—fear of hell, fear of an angry God, fear of God’s wrath, fear of the great and terrible tribulation God will pourout upon mankind, fear of judgment, fear of God’s curse if they rob Him by not paying their tithe, fear ofblessings withheld if somehow they fail to please God sufficiently, fear ofseparation from God if they don’tobey the church, or observe the proper rituals, ceremonies, and ordinances, fear of any little sin that maykeep God from hearing their prayers, fear that God will abandon them if they are not faithful to the churchsystem, fear of pain and loss. You name it, fear works in every realm that touches our daily life! Who candeny that these are the very underpinnings of the popular churches‟ theology? But, thank God,“Perfectlove casteth out all fear.”(I Jn. 4:18) What a word that is! When the pure and perfect and all-encompassinglove of Godis revealed in our hearts every fear mentioned above will take wings and fly away! All “fear” ofGod is incompatible with Infinite Love! The more He is REVEALED TO US IN TRUTH, the more weunderstand that all of His actions are motivated by love, and in our best interests. His corrections are done inlove, to instruct us in righteousness. Thus, while the testings, overcoming processes, might be hard on theflesh, yet we need not fear them, but commit ourselves into the loving handsof our Father, and trust Him forthe ultimate victory. Oh, yes! When this mind is in us that was in Christ Jesus, there is no more “sting” ofthe scorpion-tailed locust of religion!

Let us further pursue this thought of the “fear” of the Lord. The Bible speaks often of thefear of theLordand we are admonished throughout the scriptures tofear God.One of the seven spirits of Godenumerated in Isaiah 11:1-2 is theSpirit of the Fear of the Lord.This is one of the seven spirits that restedupon Jesus, the firstborn Son of God! And it is one of the seven spirits of God that rests upon the elect of theLord throughout the book of Revelation! This spirit is sent forth into our hearts from the very heart of HIM,the LAMB in the midst of the throne! As with all the seven spirits of God, the spirit of the fear of the Lordshall be a most remarkable thing in the ministry of the manifest sons of God as they arise to bring thekingdom of God to pass in all the earth in that glorious age of the ages!

Thevery first principle we must understand in this connection is that the fear of the Lord hasabsolutely and positively nothing to do with being afraid. Jesus does not have the spirit of FRIGHT! Jesuswas not, and is not, TERRIFIED of His Father, neither does He impart to men the spirit of terror. No sinnerwas ever apprehensive, fearful, or terrified in the presence of Jesus!“God hath not given unto us thespirit offear(dread, fright, terror, horror, panic, alarm, apprehension, disquietude); but ofpower,and oflove,and ofasound mind.”(II Tim. 1:7)In the scriptures our English word “fear” is translated from the Hebrew wordyirahand the Greek wordphobos.These words have two principle meanings: first, that apprehension of evilor danger whichnormally cause one to flee or fight—an expectation of harm or pain which evokes a feelingof alarm or dread; and second, that awe and reverence which a man of sense feels in the presence of thatwhich is high and eminent, such as a king or authority. Achild feels the first of these kinds of fear in thepresence of a mad dog or a cruel and abusive parent; and the second before a parent who is good and loving,but who must also be just, or before a teacher or trainer of renown who puts him through rigorous exerciseswhich in the end produce wonderful and incredible results.

In the New Testament the Greek wordphobosis used in both the above senses. On one occasion weread that the disciples of Jesus “cried out for fear” being frightened and terrified because theythoughttheysaw a ghost! (Matt. 14:26). But later we read,“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galileeand Samaria, and were edified; and walkingin the fear of the Lord,and in thecomfort of the Holy Ghost,were multiplied.” (Acts 9:31). Here, the second meaning of fear is clearly indicated, the awesomereverenceof God!

I once read a story that so clearly illustrates the nature of the fear of the Lord that has been birthed inall who truly know Him and walk with Him.The brother that related this story said, “Several years ago Imarried a young couple who were, and still are, very much in love with one another. They had met when they were thirteen and fourteen, had never looked at anyone else, and wouldn’t today afterall these years.They wentaway on their honeymoon and after a few weeks came home again. I saw them in the meeting thenext Sunday and greeted them with a little pleasantry. I asked the groom if his bride had burned the roast fortheir first dinner. They laughed, and she said, “Oh, I was afraid that I was going to. I had read so much aboutthe bride being unable to cook that I decided that John was going to have the very best meal a bride couldprepare for her husband. So I began about three o’clock. I got everything out and started to work. When Ifinally put things on to cook, I wanted everything to turn out well, and I was afraid they wouldn’t, and, ofcourse, he had to be a little late, and I was afraid things would be spoiled.‟ I interrupted her and said, “Youhave saidthree timesthat you wereafraid.Did you think that John was going to beat you?‟ She pouted and said, “Of course not.‟ She looked at him with all the love of her heart in her eyes. “But‟ I persisted, “Yousaid that you were afraid!‟ She broke in, “You know what I mean.‟And of course I knew what she meant!Her fear was not fright; her fear was A GREAT AND INTENSE DESIRE TO SERVE AND TO PLEASEthe one to whom she had given herself entirely, the one whom she respected andesteemed above all others.”

Perhaps this simple story will help us understand what is meant by the fear of the Lord. The fear ofthe Lord is a godly thing, a wonderful thing, a lovely thing! How many precious believers, influenced by thefalse doctrines of the church systems, have absolutely no conception of the difference between the pure andholy fear of the Lord andfrightof the Lord! God is love, and He loved us before the foundation of theworld and chose us and picked us out in Christ! He predestinated us and sent Jesus to redeem us! While wewere yet sinners in the flesh God commended His love toward us! God said,“O that there were such anheart in them, that they would

fear me,and keep my commandments always, that it might be well withthem,and with their children for ever!”(Deut. 5:29) Here the Lord plainly says that He wants His people to have“fear” of Him. But He wants thesame kindof fear that an obedient son would have toward a loving father!The kind of fear our heavenly Father desires to be a continual emotion within every member of His elect islike anawesome awareness;like a full, consuming knowledge of His greatpower,His greatability,Hisgreatholiness,His greatwisdom,His lovingforeordination,His wonderfulplanandpurposein our lives,and in the whole creation! The fear of the Lord isreverencefor the Lord. It is profound respect, mingledwith awe, affection, and veneration. It is reverential trust, hope, and expectation!

Another dimension of truth concerning the sting of the locusts has to do with the pain inflicted on theLord’s people through thehuman conscience.Many people have been led to believe that the humanconscience is one of the safest of guides. Some even contend that the masses of people who never trulyheard of Jesus deserve to go to everlasting damnation because God spoke to them and revealed sin to themintheir conscience,therefore they are without excuse. That is a horrible lie! Even if they did know right fromwrong through their conscience, that did not reveal Jesus to them, and Jesus is the Saviour, not doing goodthings because our conscience would bother us if we did evil. That would be salvation byworks!

The problem with the human conscience is that, first, it is a product of the fall—the knowledge ofgood and evil! Second, it is a conscience with power to condemn you for wrong-doing, but with no power tocompel you to do right. Third, it is totally undependable so far as the life of sonship and the kingdom of Godisconcerned, beingconditionedby the external influences ofthis world.To understand the truth of which Inow speak you have only to observe the life of a child. In their first bloom of innocence children readilydevelop a sense of what is right. But asthey grow older, deprived of original simplicity, imbibing of thevoices, concepts, and influences of the world around them—parents, friends, teachers, television. books,movies, news, etc.—they become affected by the values they learn from these sources and their consciencebecomes CONDITIONED TO JUDGE RIGHT AND WRONG BY THE STANDARD OF WHAT THEYARE TAUGHT. Your conscience is like a computer into which data has been fed from childhood on. Your“computer” gives out the information that has been fedinto it!

The conscience takes the shape of the things it is fed. The conscience of a Hindu has beenconditioned to believe that a cow is an especially sacred animal, to be revered. His conscience would smitehim were he to kill and eat a cow! What mentalkanguish he would suffer if he were required to dine with youat the local Outback Steakhouse! But if one is raised in a Catholic home he knows quite well that a cow isnot sacred, and his conscience is not pained by eating beef, yet, if he bends his knee before the idol-image ofa saint, his conscience will approve that, because that is how his conscience has been conditioned! Should agood Baptist be required to kneel before the image of a saint and pray to the saint, his conscience conditionedby Baptist values, would torment him and not let him sleep!

This brings us to a most marvelous verse of scripture.“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enterinto the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance of faith,having ourhearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”(Heb. 10:22) When quickened by the spirit of revelation thispassage staggers the imagination with its wonders. Such things are too wonderful for me! In our carnal statewhile yet our eyes are dim through the ravages of sin and death and the weak and insipid rule of theconscience, we can but see through a glass darkly. But now comes the word:“Having our hearts sprinkled(purified) from anevil conscience”—having the “evil conscience” orthe “defiled conscience” REMOVEDFROM OUR HEARTS by the cleansing blood of the Christ!

I have shared the following experience before, but would share it again in this connection. I wasraised in a Pentecostal home. So, upon arriving at young manhoodI had acquired a PENTECOSTALCONSCIENCE! It was shaped by the doctrines, practices, and traditions of the Pentecostal movement in thearea of south Alabama where I lived as a boy. In those churches there were many rules and traditions, someof which havechanged through the years. For example, the women were not allowed to wear facial makeupof any kind, and lipstick, especially, was the sin of Jezebel! Short or curled hair was sinful. Women couldnot wear slacks and their dresses must be long, with long sleeves and high necks. Bright, splashy colorswere a sign of worldliness. And then no jewelry of any kind was permitted—not even a wedding band!

I remember when, as a boy preacher, I wanted a tie pin to hold my tie in place. I thought about thetiepin for a long time before getting up enough courage to buy one. I purchased a rather plain, gold coloredone. I shall never forget the day I put it on, stood before the mirror, looked at myself, and said proudly,“Preston, you’ve really done it!” Then at once my Pentecostal conscience smote me and I took the thing off.I had to go back to the safety pin! You see, my conscience had been formed in the Pentecostal tradition and Ithought that wasGod’s standard of righteousness!Shortly thereafter afresh and marvelous move of theHoly Spirit swept over my life, quickening, bringing glory and the liberating spirit of revelation from God;there came a new and wonderfulunveiling of Christto my heart, and for the first time in my life I clearly sawthe bondage of tradition, the commandments of men taught as the doctrine of Christ, for the pitiful thing it is.The blessed Spirit of God turned the searchlight within and I saw that just as the sinner needs his heartcleansed from adultery, lying, drunkenness, cursing, and all the ungodly works of the flesh, so did my heartneed to be cleansed from the traditions of religion—PURGED FROM AN EVIL, DEFILED,CONDITIONED, WARPED, DISTORTED, PERVERTED,RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUS!Howdesperately the Lord’s people need this purging; for many the conscience still labors under the hangover ofmultiplied man-made standards, duty-bound rituals and ceremonies, and dead letter-of-the-word ordinancesand observances.

Hear, oh man, oh woman of God, and give earnest heed yesons of God!“For if...the ashes of anheifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to thepurifying of the flesh: how much moreshall the blood ofChrist...PURGE YOURCONSCIENCEFROMDEAD WORKSto serve the living God.”(Heb. 9:13-14)He who writes these lines testifies to those who read them that no one can serve “thelivingGod” with “deadworks.” Dead works are the fruit of spiritualdeadness that have no spiritual life in them, no life of the Spiritof the Living God! Some think “dead” means “sinful” works. Yet here “dead works” are not crimes andimmoral conduct, but rather all the formal, empty, false religious observances and self-invented acts ofrighteousness, and works of the law whereby men would seek to please and serve God. These things areimposed upon the Lord’s people by ministers who are unable to discern spirit from flesh or truth from error!

When I was a young man many of my peers had a heart after God and truly wanted to serve God.Every time we had a “revival” they would run to thealtar weeping, repenting, seeking after God. But thechurch told them they couldn’t go to the movies, couldn’t wear a short-sleeved dress, couldn’t go to ballgames, couldn’t wear makeup or jewelry, and laid a hundred other laws and commandments on themwhichthey didn’t have the will power to keep. Therefore, within two weeks after the revival they “backslid,” wentback into the world—not because they didn‟t desire to walk with God, but the price seemed too high. Intheir backslidden condition they lived in perpetual fear of hell and damnation, tormented in mind andconscience, ashamed, mortified, and distressed beyond belief. Oh, my brother, my sister, what “stings” ofthe scorpion-tailed locusts! The preachers talk long and loud about these weird,vicious creatures that aregoing to crawl up out of the pit of hell one day and torment all the poor souls who missed the rapture—andknow not that THEY THEMSELVES, AMONG OTHERS, ARE THE VERY LOCUSTS JOHN BEHELDCOMING OUT OF THE SMOKE FROM THE ABYSS!

As the living God, He is all, and does all and fills all—the ever-present and ever-working God.Cleansed from our contact with the death of religion WE KNOW THIS GOD and have fellowship with Himand serve Him. It has nothing to do with the “touch not, taste not, handle not” commandments of men, suchthings have nothing to do with life in the spirit. TO SERVE THE LIVING GOD! What a word! The gloryof the New Creature is to reveal God, to be a vessel into which He can pour His fullness, a channel throughwhich He can show forth His glory, an instrument for working out His purposes. This is what man wascreated for—in the image of God. The image of God has nothing to do with whether you wear ear rings orsip a glass of wine. Those are carnal, foolish notions of self-righteous legalistic minds! The whole object ofredemption is to bring us back to a life in the living reality of God. It is for this that the Holiest of all hasbeen opened and we are bidden to boldly enter in. It is for this that our conscience is cleansed by the blood,purged from dead works. A life in the Holiest of all is a life in which everything is done under the sense ofGod’s glory and presence, by His indwelling in our spirit, by the outworking of His power, and to His glory;a life that has no object but to live by the life of God within and do His will. That is what the New CreationMan is being formed for today! Praise God, a people is being formed to walk as God in the earth, thechange is on and weare being changed